Stupid title
by CHARbones
Summary: AU YAOI SasuNaru A mythical universe is nearing it's final days. Powerful Beings from that universe resort to desperate measures and create a hasty doorway leading to a forbidden younger universe, At the price of the devastation of Naruto's world.
1. DawnFlight

~**Asking for warmth brought forth Flames**~

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**A/N:** Very AU. But I liken it. It's lovely and I hope you all will find it lovely too. SasuNaru. Not the dragon fic I was originally planning, but this kind of wrote itself.

I'll go ahead and spoil a little of my AU setting, this story is set in a present day/magical universe... or well, it's a convergence of two separate worlds that were never meant to interact. We join our young Naru in the initial aftermath of the two worlds 'collision'. Which world he is from is something you are going to have to read and eventually figure out for yourself... not like I made it difficult for ya.

This will kind of be a _stress relief_ fic. I.e., if I'm at a loss with any of my other fics I'll probably find myself messing around with this one.

Updates will be sloooow. As this will not exactly be high priority. So with that said. Enjoy.

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_Run down clock tower_

_Dust and mice_

_Birds take flight_

_From awnings dark and musty_

_Creaking green trails down _

_To wooden steps_

_Jagged boards_

_And jagged breathes_

_Dogged on by fast paced heart_

_Resolute in terror mute_

_Resolute thy heart keeps time_

_The pounding trails echo from behind, _

_Your followers _

_Those angry eyes_

_Glitter unbound from dusty groans_

_Falling tracing sunlight tones_

_Trails under, over, ahead, beneath_

_Stripes brief illuminate _

_Across your dusty tear scarred face_

_The followers, _

_Oh run,_

_They come!_

_Desperate, jagged, broken_

_Reach, I've found the breach_

_The mice dart by_

_The pounding boots_

_The creaking boards_

_The ragged mute_

_He turns and eyes do light upon his last sight_

_And with a sigh he releases breath, _

_With a sigh he lets go of death, and falls from the gaping light_

_Won't hit the ground._

_The mute takes flight._

_

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_

_Chapter One – Flamer._

Beady black eyes watch as the rising sun pours into the musty room setting blonde hair splayed across floorboards aflame, warming rays fall upon a small angular face, dark eyelashes shudder against scarred cheeks. Then flinching against the invading bright, eyelids flash over ocean like depths and in a sudden burst of awareness, the boy winces and rubs dusty hands against his eyes. He raises his head slowly from the floor and cautiously scans the room he's awoken in.

Dirty furniture and cracked walls greet his eyes, roots rip and broil from under a carpeted floor in one corner, a large flat screen lies broken on its side, the cracked screen provides the boy a distorted grey reflection of himself laying on his back on the floor in a broken home. He raises an eyebrow at his appearance and lets his head fall back to the floor with a thump.

Head cocked jauntily, one beaded eye inspecting the sprawled teenager, the observing creature struts on spindly legs across a wooden surface and saucily trills into the room.

"Bright shiner, golden flamer, awoke with the morning light."

The boy's head jerks around to face the source of the call, his eyes darken and narrow in annoyance, his hands grope blindly for something to throw at the crow strutting and calling from its overhead perch.

"Hush death crow." The boy's low voice cracks in his throat and he quickly rolls over coughing roughly.

_Crawk!_

The black bird flutters across the holey ceiling making more noise until the boy settles his breathing.

"_Be Quiet!" _The boy hisses at the bird.

Scraping his clothed knees against the floor he crawls to the wall and braces himself against it to rise shakily to his feet.

The crow hops down to the floor, shining black eyes examine the boy sagging against the wall and with a bob of his feathered head he calls again in his loud harsh raucous bird voice.

"Waken waken little orphan. Times not waiting bright child."

The boys head falls back to bump against the wall with a sigh.

"Already?" he mutters at the ceiling.

The crow hop-skips over to the boy's leg and bothers the hems of his jeans, pulling and tugging against white strands.

"Ger'off." The boy mutters and pushes himself from the wall, the crow squawks and tumbles out of the way in a flurry of black feathers. Boards creak plaintively under the blonde boy's bare feet as he stumbles to the unhinged front door.

Stepping into the dappled sunlight he raises a hand to shadow his eyes and casts a long searching gaze to his surroundings. Meticulously noting details of the landscape; position of the road, how many steps it'd take to find the water flowing where he could hear but not see, possible cover in case a dragon flew over... well in the likely, yet unlikely event of a dragon coming to visit, he mused, he'd probably be dead before he realized it was even there.

His eyes strained to pick out tell tale signs of a dragon's presence... most common of which, twinkling lights floating ethereally, harmlessly over water.

_Willow wisps_, the bright sparking balls of light, tinkling with unearthly bell like melodic movements; they float serenely above streams and cave entrances. Moving water attracts them, echoes attract them, but mostly, _Dragons_ attract them. Dragons and willow wisps are bedfellows, both lovely, both heartless beasts. Death in a region is often caused by a dragon moving in, attracting willow wisps to follow.

Dragons, when settled into their chosen region, burrow deep into the earth, digging massive caves unhindered by building foundations or pipes or electrical wires laid down long before the crack opened in the sky and rained death on this world. Before the world was stained and changed and _tainted_ by the otherworld's power leaking into the air, animals started talking, strange creatures were seen at night and reported to baffled officials... people started disappearing.

The boy pushes reminiscent thoughts from his mind forcefully. He cannot be caught unaware anymore. He cannot drift off into thought. He had to _focus_ dammit. There was no sign of any willow wisps so he takes a few deep breathes then moves from the cracked sidewalk onto the gravel road. Trees grew from broken concrete and hung large leafy branches over the roads, some entangled into houses through broken windows, some trees sprouted up through a house.

Another byproduct of the otherworld's influence, plants _grow_ at an alarming rate. Forests sprouted in neighborhoods overnight, highways were blocked by mile thick greenery from the surrounding foliage, loggers were called, the military assembled to help clear roadways, but the plants were tenacious. Ya cut 'em down, hack them to pieces and the next morning you're hindered further down by more plants.

The boy didn't really mind the odd appearance of what he was sure was once an upper class neighborhood. He liked the trees and the plants. They provided excellent shade and he'd have an easier time dodging through the forest to escape any threats than if he were caught our in open terrain.

The black crow easily kept up with the small teen's smooth wary pace. Flitting from branch to branch, the bird seemed to be grinning down at the lithe boy, if the amused sparkle in black beady eyes was anything to go by.

The boy studiously ignores the stalking crow in favor of finding breakfast. His eyes dart to a flicker of unidentified movement and he freezes mid step.

For 45 seconds he doesn't move a muscle, eyes locked on the ridiculously large emerald green snake shifting effortlessly from tree limb to limb, moving through the canopy without a care. Then slowly the boy steps back, eyes never leaving the snake, he retreats till he is safely hidden from view behind a tree trunk.

The crow makes no noise, only sits perched on a tree limb right above the boys head, watching the snake's progress with those shiny bead eyes.

The snake was easily the length of two and a half teens the boy's stature. Larger, older, stronger, it was _not prey_, it was a threat. And so the boy and the crow bird waited and hid till it passed.

Peeking around the tree, cerulean eyes narrow suspiciously at the oblivious snakes departing form. And then in a burst of movement the boy is running in the opposite direction. The boy runs like a wolf, long loping strides covering ground in bounds and leaps, he makes very little noise. The crow mutely flutters after him.

A half mile distance is reached before the boy slows his pace. Panting lightly, the boy flops down into uncut green grass, small chest rising and falling with each breath. The crow hovers above him for a moment before descending to land on the boy's chest. Jaunty bead eyes wink at the boy's flushed face, then the crow in a stealthy yet ridiculously deliberate move snaps up a strand of the boys golden blonde hair and holds it between his upper and lower beak, blinking expectantly at the boy. Cerulean eyes roll in exasperation and then close in resignation mixed with defiance. The crow saucily jeers an odd short noise in its throat in reply before tugging viciously at the locks of hair in its beak.

"Ow! You little shit! C'mere!" flinging his hands to swat at the bird the blonde haired teen snaps his fingers closed on empty air. The crow jeers and caws it's laughter down at him from relative safety up in the branches of a tree.

"Tch, you better run ya stupid bird. Try that again and I'll have crow stew for dinner tonight."

The boy huffed and rolled over. He was aware of the aching need for sustenance spiking in his stomach made all the more pressing by the lurching grumble it emitted.

_Crawk!_

The boy looked up to see the crow fluttering madly on its perch, emerald scales shifting around the bird, suffocating and holding it in place.

"Get off it!" The boy cried, on his feet in seconds, he lunged to the tree and frantically tried to scrabble up the large trunk.

"No! Leave him alone! Please!" The boy could not hear the crow's muffled squawking any longer and frustrated panicked tears gathered at the edges of his eyes.

"Please death crow, don't leave me." He whimpered arms stretched, dirty hands reaching fruitlessly for the quivering branch.

"Madara, leave the beacon alone." The low commanding voice came from the shadows of a nearby gas station. The boy spun on his heel, eyes widening as a large scaled midnight head rose from behind the building. He whimpered unconsciously, intense twin smoldering eyes focused on him. The boy's legs gave way, he lurched to the ground leaning against the tree breathing raggedly through his terror, certain death was coming.

The dark dragon blinked slowly, then shifted to stalk gracefully around the gas station, it was roughly the size of a minivan from hind legs to fore legs, its neck was proportionate to his body and elegantly curved a scaly tale swept lithely behind him. When the dragon moved, its midnight black scales caught the dappled sunlight filtered through tree boughs and shimmered like colored glass, emitting surprising shades of dark greens and blues. It was the most beautiful dragon the boy had ever seen, and had it _talked_?

He was too terrified to really think about how strange that was. He'd never heard of the scaly monstrous beasts possessing intelligence higher than a normal animal. Though he guessed he shouldn't be surprised, if birds could randomly spout nonsensical prose than what was keeping beasts originally from the rip in the sky from possessing abnormal intelligence.

His frightened hysterical thoughts were cut short by a whoosh of over warm breathe tumbling his hair around his face, wincing his eyes watered and narrowed.

_Crawk!_

Perilous dragon head full of razor sharp teeth dangling overhead forgotten, the boy gasped and jerked his head up to see companion crow gazing down at him, head cocked curiously, familiar button black eyes twinkling. His face broke into a relieved smile; damp eyes widen allowing the gathered tears to tremble down the sides of his face.

The teen's expression was immediately replaced by a flinching yelp as the black dragon unfurled shadowy membrane wings. Wide cerulean eyes focused back on the imminent threat, the boy gulped and frantically fought the instinct to run. He wouldn't get far. Hopefully the talking dragon would kill him quickly. A familiar raucous bird voice cut through his fear hazed mind.

"Bright golden flamer, afraid of the big black wolf?" The boy's eyes widened when the crow fluttered down to land on his knee.

A rumbling chuckle reminiscent to a train rolling by forced the boys damp eyes up to the dragons head. Amused dark eyes glitter down on him.

"Golden flamer, he is adeptly recognized, small black beacon." The crow struts across the boy's lap, feathered chest puffed.

"Now, small flamer, a question, and please answer truthfully." the black eyes narrowed on the boys face.

"What is your name?" The boy raised a tremulous eyebrow, not sure what or who the dragon meant by 'small flamer'.

"M-me...?" the boy's voice wavers, the midnight dragon merely blinks in reply, intense dark eyes never move from fearful blue.

"um, Naruto. My name is Naruto."

The hair raises on the back of the boy's neck as the dragon emits something akin to a deep rumbled purr.

"Little golden flamer, Na-ru-to. I was beginning to wonder when I'd find you."

Chills, neither pleasant nor unpleasant wracked through the boy, he shuddered, the dragon's eyes flashed molten red, and the boy's eyes rolled to the back of his skull and he fell into oblivion, chased by echoes of the dragon's words.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, little flamer, and you are mine."

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**That poem thing in the beginning, yeah that's _mine_. I wrote it for this fic. Don't steal any part of it. **


	2. Down Boy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -~Asking for warmth brought forth Flames~- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**A/N:** ah, an update for this story. Which means I'm in a rut with the other one. :P This chapter has a small amount of fluff. Somewhat OOC characters. As usual.

**Explanations(no spoilers):** Ask any questions ya want. I'll explain to the best of my ability, not to mention it will help me be able to thoroughly incorporate different aspects into the story line and hopefully explain things better.

Again- I will not update this fic frequently. That _does not_ mean that I will abandon it. It will just take time to finish.

**Disclaimer:** I most certainly own nothing.

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_Chapter 2 – DownBoy!_

_The world was trembling. Serpentine tendrils of sanity lightly twisted around the fraying edges of unsuspecting minds. Eventually thoughts were as twisted as the dying magic, though The elders and the more powerful eldritch did not succumb to the whispers, the soft breathe of uncertainty tainted their eyes and actions. And then darkness started permeating the landscape, night stretched through the hours when our sun should have rose, light faded too quickly, even those reveling in the darkness knew. Knew that what was natural, what was normal, would never exist in our world again. _

_Our world trembled, pulses emitted from it's very ancient core signaled the steady halt of life._

_There would be no more, no more young born, seeds spread across fertile fields would not take root. No more growth. Life would halt on all four planes of existence. _–

Naruto paused and furrowed blonde eyebrows. He unfurled the leather scroll further and shifted in the pile of furs he was sitting cross legged on. He continued to read despite the dimming light.

-_The plane of existence housing entities recognized as gods was the first to become silent. Temples darkened; priests went mad with the abrupt loss of a connection as ancient as the core. Then the djinn's, the melding present and past and future that interwove two whole planes of existence slowly melted away. Memories become muddled, hope faded from everything. Darkness rooted quicker with the lessening of light in creature's hearts. Wishes, for what is a wish but a hope for the future, failed. _

_And that was when we started creating the gate. Not guided by hope, because we that were still sane did not trust hope as the frail beings that had wasted away months before had. The creatures that moved now were the ones bred in darkness, brought forth from dark flames and trained to survive against all odds and prejudice. _

_Not all evil, just dark. _

_And when the forbidden gate was finally created and the two worlds connected, we unhurriedly and quietly fled through. Some waited till the final plane of existence started to fade away before they left the dark shaded fading world through the unorthodox forbidden gate._

_We became refugees in a world that did not want to acknowledge us._

_Despite this, we settled in, trying to adapt. But this new world is oh so young and bright and different. The creatures pre inhabiting this young world are primitive, yet advanced, and numerous. It's almost intimidating how many of the same species there are spread out over this world. But they're small and weak, these earthlings, most hold no power at all. Bright little pinpricks so easily extinguished, it makes sense that there would be so many, their existences are useless and short. _–

Naruto bit his lip, glancing quickly up at the circular opening emitting yellow fading light from the setting sun, sapphire eyes worried and slightly fearful mirrored the darkening blue sky. He could see no signs of danger though, and the light was fading fast. He turned his head back to the scroll, blonde strands curtaining the vibrant fearful eyes.

-_It came as a surprise, when the first pre inhabitant, first human melded with latent magic emanating from the gate. It created a bright flare, a pulse, not unlike the dying of our otherworld, which attracted many creatures to the little human. The human was taken from it's home by a curious eldritch of medium power, and it eventually learned to co inhabit with the eldritch. It was whispered that they bonded on an intimate level. _

_This was just the start, flares started pulsing from all over the world; Humans started melding with the magic invading their world. The joining sometimes instilled the feeling of completion, like it was needed to feel alive; others rebelled against the unfamiliar merge, hating the subtle change and tried to end their lives. _

_With every new flare, a fragile bond, a dormant connection was found. Every flare in existence had an __other__, from our dead world, to put it brusquely, a mate._

_The more powerful eldritch were drawn to the more unique flares, flares who had a recessive power before they melded unconsciously with magic from our otherworld, these flares where dubbed 'flamers', and were hunted even by those from the Otherworld who did not feel the dormant connection._

_It became obvious, soon, that the new world would have to adapt to it's new inhabitants, so the human government sought out the more powerful eldritch to bring some kind of order to the chaos initiated by co inhabitance and eventually laws were laid against and for the flamers and flares. _

_Flamers were not allowed to be unrecognized. They had special identification and were protected by both eldritch and humans. _

_Flares that were recognized had special identification and were protected only by humans and their eldritch bonded._

_In some regions the prejudice and fear spurred complete bans against flamers, while flares had to pay a fine for passing through. Because where there were flamers and flares, there were undoubtedly mid level and higher powered eldritch._

_Dragons, dragons are untouched and unconcerned with the laws or any form of control. Dragons have always been recognized as a source of raw magic, unbridled existences._

_The human government tried very hard to negotiate a way to control dragons with the eldritch, but the eldritch have no more control over the dragons than is allowed by the dragons. _

_As it had been in our Otherworld, so it is here. _–

He winced, took a shaky breath and leaned over the scroll, it was talking of dragons now, and he'd learn anything he could since he was currently the captive of one. And flamers, hadn't the dragon called him that? If he was a flamer, he'd broken some law unknowingly by not being recognized by the state...Naruto bit his lip and scowled.

"I didn't freakin' _know_, why should I get punished for not knowing?" He muttered. Then his scowl lightened, he chuckled and bit back a sob as fear laced consternation threatened to engulf him. _The dragon_, that's right, he wouldn't need to worry about punishment, because the dragon would likely kill him when it returned. He bit his lower lip till it bled and focused on the black ink words written across the scroll.

-_Dragons are not infallible, despite being nigh immortal, it was discovered that with this world's weaponry dragons can be killed slightly easier than in our Otherworld. _

_When a dragon is spotted, it is marked. Whether for death or for capture is determined on the eldritch that tries to negotiate with it. _

_The gate has been open for almost two years, the UN has surreptitiously enforced laws to gain control over flamers, and by default, flamer's bonded. As flamer's bonded are all very powerful eldritch it's understandable the benefits of this to the UN. But eldritch are not naïve dull creatures to be controlled easily, we are currently trying for an official eldritch representative in the UN and possible control over territory. _–

"That's it?" Naruto whispered between gritted teeth. Eyes widened in the dark, he stared helplessly down at the scroll. He slumped back against the massive mound of furs and blinked back frustrated tears.

Of course' he thought, '_it_ wouldn't leave information on a dragon's weaknesses out in the open, would it?' Naruto pursed his lips and stared up at the stalagmite riddled ceiling.

He'd awoken in a natural cave, one furnished like a house in certain areas, the sole inhabitants were Naruto, and the random twinkling Willow wisp that blinkered in the softening light.

No way out but to fly, he'd spent his first two hours conscious searching for an exit to no avail. There was no food and the dwelling smelled like earth. A crystalline pool of freezing spring water rippled in the corner, pale milky eyed fish floated and swayed under the surface. The spring was fed from underground and was likely to never run dry.

Naruto didn't believe he could hold his breath long enough to explore the underwater dark ominous openings deeper into the earth for a possible exit. Besides, the thought of dying underwater trapped under the earth scared him more than his impending dinner date with the dragon.

He didn't realize he'd closed his eyes till a wave of air tossed his hair around his face. He bolted to his feet before his eyes had opened fully and sprinted across the cave when the black dragon swooped gracefully through the opening in the roof and landed on the cavern's floor. Dust and dirt rose on the disturbed air around the dragon and it slowly bent it's scaly neck to examine Naruto.

Naruto leaned against the opposite wall and watched the dragon with wide eyes.

The dragon lowered it's head slowly to the ground and deposited the mangled corpse of a deer onto the dirt. Naruto frowned, _how much do dragons eat?_ He thought. _Me and a deer? _Naruto looked down at his chest and blinked.

_Ah, I'm sorta, thinner now than I when I was at the orphanage huh..._ ruefully he half smiled, then his eyes widened at the realization that he was worried about his weight in front of a dragon that was about to _eat_ him.

_Stress, it's getting to me. This would be a lot less frightening if the stupid large thing would just eat me already..._

He scowled and looked up at the black dragon furling its wings against its body across the floor. The dragon cocked it's head at Naruto's glare and a rumbling chuckle filled the cavern. Naruto flinched back at the noise.

"Stop pouting little one. If you're hungry come and eat." The voice was a low velvet growl.

The dragon lowered its head till it was coal eye to sapphire eye with Naruto and huffed out a short warm breath that washed over the petite blonde haired teen. Naruto shrunk as far back into the cave wall as he could.

"I forget, you frail humans won't eat uncooked meat, will you." The Dragon slowly inched forward and gently nudged Naruto away from the wall. It curled its neck around Naruto and forced him towards the bleeding carcass.

Naruto was bewildered for all of two minutes. Why did the dragon want him to eat? Why was it being so careful with him? Then the only appropriate answer hit him and left him slightly dizzy with horror.

_Oh, right, I'm malnourished, he wants me nice and well fed and..not bruised? Bruised fruit doesn't taste good, is it the same with humans?_

This thought caused a hiccupping laugh to bubble up alongside the panic in Naruto's chest which upon reaching his throat he promptly choked on. The smell wafting off the carcass didn't help to calm his stuttered breathing; he retched a few times before he was lifted off the ground and dropped into the furs.

"You, you're a helpless little thing aren't you." The dragon's warm breath hovered over the light headed teen and Naruto giggled drunkly.

"No, no, just kinda wishing you'd hurry up and eat me." He muttered out loud, clearly not thinking straight. The dragon's deep coal eyes went half mast above him, and the air slowly started heating up.

"Ah, little one, you shouldn't say those things. You're ignorance would cause strife between us and unnecessary fear on your part." Naruto was finding it hard to breath. The warmth emanating from the dragon and it's large toothy head drifting above him was enough incentive for him to fall into blessed unconsciousness.

Unfortunately, unconsciousness would not take the initiative and claim him, he was left in a near panic state, _awake_, and worst of all, the dragon was now gnawing absently on the deer carcass.

"I assume you read the scroll I left down for you?" Naruto gulped, still high on fear. He nodded mutely at the dragon's calm gaze.

"Then, you have a slight understanding of this world's current political state. _You_ are a flamer, more precisely, _My _flamer, My little bonded." The dragon trailed off, and blinked contemplatively at the deer carcass. Then he lifted his head and stared at Naruto.

"I have no intentions of becoming the only dragon held in the UN's control through you, little one. I also, have no intentions of giving you up." The dragon seemed to somehow arrange his scaly face into a smirk.

"A bond with such a lovely Flamer, I'm rather pleased. You're not as I'd feared you'd be when I felt the undercurrent of the bond tugging at my core." Naruto gaped at the dragon. _Bonded... does that mean, I'm not getting eaten?_ He slowly closed his lips, blinked and frowned.

"Uh, dragon guy..." the dragon cut him off with a look.

"_Sasuke_. Naruto, I have already told you my name. It is Sasuke." Naruto chuckled nervously and shifted on the furs.

"Y-yeah, S-sa...uhm. Anyways... what exactly, does _bonded_ mean?" Sasuke scrutinized him searchingly.

"How old are you?" Naruto blinked at the short question.

"Nineteen." he answered with a frown.

"What does my age have to do-" Without warning Sasuke snapped his neck forward and pushed Naruto onto his back with his snout. Naruto let out a slight yip upon contact and hit the furs behind him with a grunt.

Sasuke nosed Naruto snuffling slightly, his angular snout moved across Naruto's chest and drifted lower, Naruto's face flamed as Sasuke paused over his groin and nipped considering over his zipper.

"C-cut it out! Sasuke! What the hell are you doing?"

Sasuke grunted softly and brought his snout up to Naruto's face,

"You're innocence, it's still intact." Sasuke's voice was smug and a little awed, Naruto's blush intensified and he squawked indignantly

"That's none of your business bastard!" The dragon chuckled and nudged Naruto's chin up slightly to nibble lightly at his collarbone.

"What the fuck?" Naruto yelped and struggled away from the warm breath hitting his neck. Sasuke just laid a clawed hand against Naruto's chest and held him in place. Naruto bit his lower lip, his vision seemed to go hazy- the outline of the dragon above him was blurred and appeared to be shrinking. Naruto blinked uncertainly, the light was so very dim now and he couldn't really make out much in the dark cave.

Silky strands spread against his neck and Naruto flinched at the contact. Something warm and wet worked over the small junction where his neck and shoulder met. Naruto gulped at the odd sensation and whimpered when a clawed hand ghosted over his exposed midriff. Naruto's hands hesitantly rose from his sides to meet the sudden weight pressing down on him; Sasuke wasn't going to _lay_ on him was he? _That would crush me!_ Naruto yelped when something clamped down on the skin just over his jugular.

"S-sasuke, you want the bed, I'll move, just don't crush me ok! And stop doing whatever it is that you're doing! I said I'll move bastard!" _hahahaha I'm mouthing off to a dragon. _Naruto giddily thought before another involuntary whimper was spurred from his lips by the weight shifting to fully encompass him.

"Hn, little moron, I think I like you right where I have you." Naruto grit his teeth, a small flame of rebellion lit in him and he bucked against the weight.

"Well I really don't like it! Sasuke you'll freaking crush me!" Sasuke chuckled and something nuzzled the side of Naruto's neck. Naruto winced at the thought of those razor sharp teeth being so close to such a vulnerable part of his body and tried to shift away.

Sasuke sighed, a deep whispery sound that tossed Naruto's bangs around his forehead. Then the weight was gone and Naruto's heated chest met cool air. He immediately pushed himself up on his elbows and scrambled backwards causing him to tumble off the side of the furs into the ground.

"_Bonded_, little one, means I have no intention to hurt you, so relax." Naruto frowned and closed his eyes briefly. It was almost completely dark in the cave and he couldn't see where the dragon was, which caused him no small amount of stress. A sudden billow of flame lit up the darkness and shadows furled and dance across the walls. Naruto balked and covered his eyes, squinting past his fingers he blinked black dots from his vision.

There was no large pitch black dragon in the cave.

Naruto's breath caught, and he rubbed his eyes with his knuckles before jerking to his knees and glancing around wildly, completely disregarding the tall figure standing before the crackling fire. The figure tilted it's head and an amused chuckle reverberated around the cave.

"Little moron." Naruto twisted around to face the source of the condescending voice so fast he almost toppled over. The fire light reflected in deep black orbs observing him caused an almost demonic glint and Naruto's sapphire eyes widened. Naruto blinked somewhat self consciously and uncertainly raised a hand in a short wave.

"Oh, uh, hi?"

That chuckle again.... and the figure turned a broad shouldered back to Naruto and walked to the side of the cave that the spring pool bubbled in.

"Unfortunately, you're going to have to settle for unseasoned fish tonight Naruto." Naruto blinked at the silky low voice that sounded so like the dragons.

The male was unclothed. Naruto furrowed his brows and stretched his lips against his teeth displaying an uncertain worried frown.

"Uhm, you. You are _Sasuke_, right? I- had no idea dragons could transform into uhm... well that." The dragon-human turned his ebony haired head slightly and a feral grin lifted pale lips from curled ivory canines. Naruto gulped and shrank from the red tinted eyes dragging their coal pupil gaze appraisingly down his body.

"There are quite a few misconceptions about dragons, we like our privacy." Sasuke blinked contemplatively and turned to face Naruto fully.

"I suppose for now, I should hold you under oath; you are to withhold all information that could harm dragons if spoken to the wrong ears, at least until I'm certain you understand your unique circumstances." Sasuke fixed a firmly expectant look on Naruto and the teen bit his lower lip and warbled

"I- you... _what_?" Sasuke lowered his eyelids in a completely patronizing stare and sighed.

"Alas, your Natural beauty only barely distracts from your unsurprisingly low mental capacity." Naruto bared his teeth at the obvious jab and snarled across the room at the amused dragon.

"Stop fucking insulting me, I'm not an idiot and I'm not a moron! If you were in my place you'd be a little confused too goddammit!"

"I doubt it, little Naru, Now swear the oath. It's simple, all you have to do is say 'I swear' and you will be bound to obey only this order. It is not a way to control your will little one, just a simple precaution." Naruto scowled at Sasuke and clamped his lips shut. Sasuke's dark eyes narrowed and he turned without a word to the spring. He bent over and gracefully pulled a large white fish from the water. He idly broke it's back and flicked it over to the fire. Turning back to Naruto's stiff form Sasuke frowned at the blonde's tenacity.

"Naruto. You _will_ swear the oath. It is necessary." Naruto sucked his teeth in a purely rebellious gesture and ignored Sasuke in favor of examining the fish lying limply in the dirt in front of the fire.

"Naruto. I do not want to do this as I desire your trust as your bonded, but if you force me I will _force_ you." Sasuke's tone was blunt, Naruto turned his eyes briefly to meet Sasuke's, then gasped and stepped back completely unable to look away.

Where Sasuke's eyes were previously blacker than the midnight sky, now a fiery red pulsed with every word Sasuke spoke into the cave.

"You, Naruto, will swear not to speak of anything you learn about dragons to anyone deemed unfit by me, your bonded, your eternal mate." The fiery eyes narrowed and Sasuke spoke with a tone of voice devoid of emotion but echoing complete authority.

"Now, Swear."

Naruto tried to resist, to the point where his eyes watered and frustrated tears ran down his cheeks, but he could not look away. When he felt his mouth open and his voice rising unbidden to speak he bit down hard on his tongue and tasted blood. Then Sasuke was standing in front of him with nothing but tenderness reflected in those dark eyes and brought his pale lips to Naruto's scarred cheeks, he kissed down the tear trails and murmured into Naruto's ear while enfolding Naruto's trembling frame into his arms. Naruto brought his fisted hands up to bang against Sasuke's chest once or twice before he settled for dripping the tears running out of his nose onto Sasuke's skin.

"Little beloved, just speak the words. Stop hurting yourself." Naruto forced a choking breath through gritted teeth.

"I- s-swear." He coughed and buried his face miserably against Sasuke's warm shoulder feeling immediate release.

"Y-you bastard." Naruto hiccupped, sagging against Sasuke. He sighed when warm hands rubbed his back.

Sasuke tucked Naruto's head under his chin and massaged the back of Naruto's neck.

"Find a better insult moron." Sasuke muttered. Naruto barked a short bitter laugh.

"Now, that's over, sit down, I'll feed you." Sasuke said, and pushed Naruto backwards so that he fell into the furs.

"Oof-" Naruto yelped upon impact, then bounced back up immediately and glared at Sasuke's back.

Naruto was more than a little disorientated; he was in a situation where he had no knowledge as to what to expect and he barely had a hold on the fact that he was somehow irrevocably bonded to a dragon. All he really had the presence of mind to decide at the moment was that he did not like Sasuke pushing him around.

The smell of cooking meat dispelled all further thoughts and Naruto almost drooled when Sasuke walked over to him, hands full of steaming flaky white meat. This would be his first meal in almost two days. Naruto's stomach complained fiercely at the realization and Naruto diligently ignored Sasuke's raised eyebrow.

Sasuke crouched before Naruto and offered his cupped hands as a plate. Naruto had no real complaints, he was too hungry to care, and devoured the proffered meat. He wondered with a small blush if Sasuke would take it the wrong way if he licked the hands turned plate clean... but before he worked up the courage to ask Sasuke was half way across the cave, back towards the pool of water. When he returned his hands were housing cold water this time. Naruto blinked up at Sasuke's expectant face and sighed.

"I can get my own ya know." Sasuke just raised an eyebrow, tilted his head and kept his cupped hands in front of Naruto. Naruto snorted and brought Sasuke's hands to his lips then slurped up the water.

Sasuke watched intently, when Naruto's lips briefly touched Sasuke's fingers his coal eyes narrowed into an intensely concentrated stare and he froze in place until sated Naruto leaned back.

"Ah, thanks." Naruto muttered without looking up. Sasuke quirked a small smile.

"Of course." Was all he said.

* * *

I integrated ideas from _Jonathan Stroud's_ Bartimaeus Trilogy into the Otherworld's construction. I.e. The planes of existence. These aren't something I need to worry about explaining for Naruto's world, simply cause there shouldn't be more than one plane of existance in his. And this is my fanfic, so what I say goes. Well, actually if I say something completely irrelevant to the plot, that doesn't _go_. No I'll try to keep my story free of random blah-shite.

And as for how the otherworld inhabitants deal with the different _feel_ of the new world, ah I'll figure that out eventually. Though the fact that the otherworld is shifting Naruto's reality to conform and fit into what they should recognize a little better does help with that.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: ^_^ **I am pleased. NaNoWriMo finished. And I'm writing a chapter for MFB right now.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing

**Warnings:** Some what OOC characters...

**Locations are fictional except for US states.**

**Chapter 3  
**

* * *

When Naruto woke up his body relaxed and warm, he almost let himself believe the lovely conclusion he had come to about this, for some reason, out of place feeling. That conclusion being the past few months had never happened.  
He was safe in his creaky bed at the boy's home, waking up after a night of gorging himself on the black bean enchiladas served every Wednesday.

Perfectly content to doze off with the comforting thought that the past couple of weeks were a trippy dream byproduct of an over consumption of black beans, Naruto started to sink back into blissful unawareness, waiting for the sounds of the house around him to start waking up as well.

It was an odd epiphany, when he realized drowsily that he was normally unfailingly the last one out of bed.

_CrrrAAAWK!_

Naruto winced at the sound, and his carefully fabricated dream crashed around him leaving him bitterly conscious, with the realizations that, yes, the last two years happened. Yes he'd been surviving almost no contact with another human for over a month and Yes, he'd been captured by a black dragon who by now was probably bored with the whole 'Bonded' farce and would probably eat him.

Naruto clenched his eyes tighter shut.

At least, he mused, the stupid loud death crow was still alive, and annoyingly awake early in the morning.

When Sasuke woke up, the first thing he did was glance down at his little blue eyed beauty of a flamer.  
The sight reflected in his pitch black eyes had him thanking whatever greater powers had seen fit to gift him with such an exquisitely made flamer. The deep browns and reds of the furs curled around the human accented and flattered his sinfully tan skin. Pink full lips boasting a healing cut parted as the boy breathed, gaunt dirt smudged cheekbones coupled with a pert slightly rounded nose and those eyes...

The only thing rivaling the celestial quality of those blue eyes was an ocean of crystalline water reflecting the suns light deep to its depths.

Sasuke leaned his snout over the boy's forehead and exhaled, tossing the blond bangs from his face.  
The boy was too thin, he noted with trepidation. But when he'd have the proper nutrition, he'd undoubtedly have a runner's physique, long limbs and corded muscles coupled with natural slenderness. Still, he was too thin now, and Sasuke had the means to remedy that. Sasuke blinked leisurely running his eyes over the boy. He'd made arrangements the day before, which was why he'd had to stop at this safe house/cave between the major human and Unseelie populated city Brealtyme, and his mansion home in the rugged less populated northern region of Idaho.

His very essence purred at the close proximity of his bonded, and the pulses of power that literally drenched him every time Naruto experienced an emotional peak were euphoric. The human child practically radiated power from the gate. It was unprecedented, And Sasuke was a being that could appreciate extraordinary occurrences.

He watched as the boys chest rose and fell with deep steady breathes for a while, then shifted from his position and stretched his wings. When Naruto had finally fallen asleep last night, Sasuke had allowed the fire to burn itself down then extinguished it by sucking the flames back into his stomach. He'd then shed the human shell he'd taken and returned to his preferred form.

The beacon bird squawked itself into awareness and ruffled it's feathers spewing dust into the air around it. Sasuke stiffened when Naruto's breathing gradually quickened. His little one was awake.

And again, he was terrified. The fear burdened the air and caused Sasuke's hackles to raise somewhat.

"Little Moron." Sasuke rumbled.

"You're a dragon again. You freak. Pick a form and stay in it."

Sasuke blinked down at Naruto's annoyed tone. Naruto's eyes were clenched shut and his body was tense.

"Are we at the stage of our relationship were we test each other's boundaries little one? Do you mind if I do the same?"

"Fuck you."

"Now, I think, is not the time." Sasuke chuckled and slid from the bed area. He turned to look back at Naruto. He sat up and glowered at the dragon.

"I don't think I should believe in this 'bonded' crap. I think as soon as I get fatter you'll eat me. I feel obligated to tell you that you shouldn't waste your time, I'm going to starve myself to death and you'll have to settle for the bruised fruit taste." Naruto took in a deep breath. He narrowed his eyes at Sasuke. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and stared back.

"I see." He said. Naruto gulped at the emotionless tone and crept back off the furs to stand on his legs, muscles tensing to run.

The air shimmered around the dragon, he reared up to stand on his back legs, Naruto flinched.  
In this posture, the thinner fore legs easily resembled arms with sturdy fingered hands and lethal looking curved talons on each finger.  
The bat like membrane wings folded against the dragon's sides seemed to push and stretch over his back, the sinewy abdomen shrunk as the dragon's snout flattened, the ridges over his eyes melted down into a more familiar human looking brow and two black bangs fell past his now human chin to his shoulders. His black pupils were stretched down unnaturally like a cat's eye, but other than that, Naruto could see no features to the now human body that would alert anyone of Sasuke's true form.  
The dragon's human face some how resembled his dragon face. His chin was pointed, he had a strong jaw and a straight nose that was proportionate to his face, it might have been long on anyone else. Sasuke's eyes were set beneath black eyebrows, his facial structure was defined. He was a very handsome male. Broad chested and standing at 6 feet, he was built like a football quarterback, hell he was built like a guy who could turn into an effin dragon.

Naruto wanted to break his stupid nose.

His eyes wandered down over the smooth planes of chest down past the thin waist, widened then shot up as his cheeks tinted red. A scowl crossed his face as Sasuke somewhat smugly reclined on his heels and crossed his arms over his chest.

Fucker. Go figure, Well endowed. Fucking dragon. And, he had no hair down there, just a few glimmery black scales... freak. No seriously...really fucking weird. Naruto turned, still immensely peeved.

"You hungry?" Sasuke's rumbled voice asked.

"Starving myself to death, remember?"

"Unacceptable."

_Don't friggin care, la dee doo... _Naruto examined his toes and ignored the dragon, pretending he had no cares in the world.  
Because Naruto had a plan. It was possibly a dumb plan, but hey, better than no plan at all. He was not going to starve himself to death, no. He was going to eat... just very small barely noticeable portions. And he wouldn't gain any weight and the dragon would get bored and fly away.

Ok... so he hadn't thought it through all the way. Whatever, the beauty of this plan is that he could change it depending on the situation because the real goal of this plan was to give him _time_.  
Dumb Dragon flies off to find him food, he'd start building a ladder out of the logs the stupid dragon left behind for the fire. Having no access to nails or rope or tools in general would not stop him! He'd survived a year and a half relatively alone in the wilderness... suburban wilderness, he could escape from this situation. Definitely.

"I have a friend in New Bethel that was supposed to bring some human food to my home in Oakland. This cave is a midway point, we'll be flying home soon. I'd suggest you get ready. You can eat on our next stop." Sasuke murmured from very close behind Naruto.

In Naruto's mind's eye, all thought and plans screeched to a halt, spontaneously combusted and burnt into figurative little whorls of despair and curiously purple tinted smoggy frustration. He twitched and whirled around to come face to face with Sasuke.

"Woah!" Startled at the proximity, Naruto stumbled back, tripped over a fur and tilted backwards. Sasuke stepped forward, casually caught him and pulled Naruto's body up over his shoulder. Sasuke walked to the spring of water and plopped Naruto down right next to it.

"Drink your fill, wash your self up. Do it fast as we haven't got all day. The sooner we fly out the sooner you get fed little one."

Naruto's eyes were wide with outrage, his mouth opened and closed at Sasuke. He bared his teeth at the dragon's amused face and promptly started washing his hands and arms and legs and feet, deciding to ignore the spectating dragon. He took a few gulps of water and shook his hair free from clinging drops. Naruto blinked in realization as he ran his wet fingers through his shoulder length hair.

"I could use a haircut." He mumbled, tugging a thatch of hair in front of his eyes.

"And a bath." Sasuke smiled at Naruto's glance upward.

"Yeah... a bath would be nice too." Naruto slowly muttered as he rose to his feet. Sasuke's smile widened.

"Ah, so my little one can be agreeable? I am most relieved." Naruto considered pushing Sasuke into the cold spring water.

The rebellious scowl on Naruto's face prompted a laugh from Sasuke, Naruto scowled in what he hoped was an even fiercer manner and all he got for it was a chuckle.

"Why did you shift into your human form if you're in such a hurry to fly us out of here." he growled, trying to get Sasuke's mind off of his amusement. Naruto did not appreciate being laughed at.

"For your comfort little one. And so you could get a good look at me in the light." Sasuke smirked at Naruto's reluctant blush.

"Also, I couldn't kiss you very well in my Dragon form." Naruto stiffened at the husky tone and tried to back away but was caught in a strong unrelenting grasp before he even took a step.

"Ah shit, look I'm pretty certain I'm not into gu-mmph!" Cut off from speech Naruto closed his eyes tight and pretended he'd run smack into a warm growly wall. It was a blessing in disguise, he figured, as his panicked slightly horrified voice had sounded less than masculine.  
_Thank you dragon wall, for shutting me up before we had the chance to add utter humiliation to the list of stressful emotions I've felt this morning._

Naruto would have giggled if his mouth wasn't under siege.

Sasuke's pitch black eyes which had been half open from the start of the one sided kiss stared at the interesting colors his bonded turned at random intervals, from a burning red, to a pale white. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, amused and a little annoyed with the lack of attention Naruto had. He growled and started licking the tightly shut lips.

_Freaking dragon, kissing me, a male, he's male too, I saw. He's definitely male. Whats his problem anyways. Holy shit I need AIR! _

Naruto jerked his chin up and clocked Sasuke's lower lip as he gasped for breath.

"DAMNIT! Dumb, Dragon bastard! Son of a BITCH! GAHH!" Naruto clenched his teeth and lowered his chin. Then he blinked. He was, he was almost a head shorter than this molesting dragon... his eye line was just below Sasuke's fucking chin!

Somewhere inside Naruto's head his masculinity shrank into a midget with anger management problems. Somehow, being smaller and shorter and thinner made him less of a man than this a dragon.

Sasuke frowned and tongued the inside of his bottom lip. It was bleeding a little.

"Ow." He said.

"Shaddup." Naruto replied.

"... ...Little one, I think we're going about this the wrong way." Sasuke sighed at Naruto's complete and utter lack of response.

"We have alot of time to figure this out, Don't worry." he said in a comforting tone while nuzzling the side of Naruto's face, Naruto bat him away with his hand absently. Sasuke slowly released him then walked to the patch of dirt illuminated by the light from the hole in the cave ceiling.

"I'm changing forms now little moron, You will be up on my back for the majority of our flight. I won't let you fall but you probably shouldn't squirm around a lot. Understood?" Naruto glared at him, Sasuke blinked, unaffected.

"Yeah. ok. That's great." Naruto's tone suggested a completely different opinion, But inside Naruto danced with glee and cackled... yes. He cackled.

Flying? Flying is goood. Why? Fly over some random lake or body of water and, if low enough, the extent of damage taken from a fall(leap) would be a large red welt. _Hopefully_ nothing malicious would be dwelling in the body of water and he could _hopefully_ escape before Sasu-_the dragon_, noticed he was gone...

The more he thought about it, the less his inner angry midget danced with glee. Because... Dammit, the whole idea was a pretty stupid one.  
It wasn't ideal, too many 'ifs' and too many scary conclusions. An angry dragon was not something Naruto really wanted to experience. He sighed and glanced up, noticing that Sasuke had finished changing and the narrow ridged dragon head was pointed at him, eyes expectant.

"Time to go Naruto." the warning in the tone was evident.

"Time to go Golden Flamer! Time to fly o'er distant peaks!" The crow added it's two cents and fluttered down to sit on Sasuke's head.

Naruto rolled his eyes muttered a sulky "Traitor." Then for the first time approached the dragon of his own free will.

Rather like a disobedient child Naruto plodded over and Sasuke choked back his amusement.

He then distastefully lowered his upper body to the dirt so the blond could climb up between his shoulder blades, the position Naruto found himself in was a lot like he was piggy backing the dragon, except his knees were braced against Sasuke's shoulders. He suppressed a nervous chuckle and clung to the scales between unfurled wings, finding that the dragon's scale texture was very slippery in some places.

"Hang on, little one." Sasuke roared, the huge wings beat against the air, thudding against Naruto's eardrums, he swallowed trying to relieve the pressure. His ears finally popped and he blinked then yelped and clung to the scales in front of him as Sasuke sped from the entrance and into the open air. He shrieked (rather like a girl) when a tiny black cannonball shaped object hurled itself into his shoulder.

"Whoa-AGH!" Sasuke glanced back and snorted as Naruto squirmed against his back, the crow burrowed itself deeper into his shirt using it's clawed feet to push itself against Naruto's chest.

"Stupid thing! Why didn't you do this before we took off!" he yelled then shrieked as Sasuke dropped altitude suddenly.

"Sorry little moron, we have to fly close to the ground from here til our next resting point. UN patrolled areas are so troublesome." Sasuke rumbled. Naruto's eyes watered and he buried his face against the scales. His hair whipped around and stung his cheeks and eyes so he closed them tight and just concentrated on hanging on.

There was no way he was going to jump off. They were going way to freaking fast!

"Try looking around Naruto. You might like the view." Sasuke rumbled from underneath him.

Naruto, desperate to distract himself from his growing nausea opened his eyes.

There was something intrinsically breathtaking about the combination of cutting through the air and watching the scenery fly by.

Naruto was struck breathless, and suddenly completely unafraid, he slowly raised his head, eyes wide on the landscape.

Everywhere there were trees, the horizon was emerald. The trees swayed beneath them, the sky was so blue and depth less it was dizzying. Naruto took a shuddering breath and blinked.

Upon glancing back at his silent bonded, Sasuke's mind decided for itself that it had never seen anything quite as beautiful as the fledgling flamer wide eyed and breathing in time with the beat of his wings.  
There was an unbridled wonder shining through Naruto's blue depths, it made Sasuke want to flip and cut intricate patterns through the air. Triumphant rapture bubbled in his chest and was let loose in a resounding roar that singed the leaves of the trees passing so quickly beneath them.  
Naruto let loose a yell in tandem that Sasuke had no doubt would be what freedom sounded like if it had it's own voice to yell with.

Naruto threw his head back and laughed then howled like a wolf on Sasuke's back, yelling against the wind, Sasuke continued to cut a path through the air, his heart beat in time to Naruto's wild laughs. They passed over lakes and streams, more leafy trees and occasionally a settlement where humans and eldritch alike would duck and cower.

Naruto was oblivious to most of it, he enjoyed the flight, the nipping wind and the disarray of thoughts that tumbled into his head were greeted with the elation of boundless excitement. He didn't want to ever be land bound again. This was freedom in essence! He had to convince Sasuke to take him flying as often as he could! Naruto tightened his arms around Sasuke's neck and grinned.

Dragons were _amazing_.

**TBC.**


End file.
